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It is still uncertain whether Samuel Saunders is the Central Football Association’s (CFA) representative on the Board of the T&T Football Association.

CFA president Shymdeo Gosine made it clear Saunders was removed as their representative as of January 29 last month, after a voting process, saying they adhered to the guidelines of their constitution to treat with such issues.

Saunders, however, told Guardian Media Sports on Wednesday night that he was still the representative as the CFA had not complied fully with the constitution of the parent T&TFA.

Saunders, an attorney-at-Law became the centre of attention after months of the new CFA executive, being led by Gosine, taking office in 2015.

The CFA boss said Saunders had not represented the concerns of the CFA and had not attended any meetings, despite messages being left on his phone and via his email address.

Gosine said his association followed advice by the TTFA to use the guidelines of their constitution to remove a member, saying: “Now that this has taken place, he is confused as to why the TTFA still has Saunders in their fold.”

“A decision on who we want to represent us at the board level should be entirely up to us. The only thing I can think of for the TTFA’s reluctance to accept Saunders’ removal from the CFA, is only if they are attempting to prevent us from functioning as efficiently and effectively as we have been” Gosine said.

He noted: “The TTFA is, at this point, no use to us, as they have never given us anything and has not supported anything we have done.”

The CFA needed a three-fifths majority to remove Saunders on January 19 at Woodford Lodge Chaguanas, which according to the CFA’s General Secretary Clynt Taylor, they received easily.

Taylor said the results of the vote were communicated to the TTFA via email but the football association requested a hard copy of it. That information was delivered to the TTFA on Monday.

Meanwhile, Joanne Salazar, the TTFA’s 3rd Vice President said the CFA had been tardy in submitting documentation in regarding to removing Saunders as its representative, saying the TTFA through its president David John-Williams at a board meeting last month, requested documentation from the CFA to confirm that there was strict compliance with its (CFA’s) constitution.

She said since that meeting the CFA took a while to submit the documents.

“When they did submit the documents on February 13, both John-Williams and the association’s General Secretary Justin Latapy were out of the country, so we have not had the time to peruse the documents” Salazar explained.

She added there were members of the football fraternity who believed that once the constitution of the regional associations had been followed then their request should be granted, but she pointed out that the TTFA’s constitution provided guidelines on how the Board should proceed.

She described these guidelines as vague, noting that she would consult with someone with more knowledge on it before proceeding further.

She said the matter was not on the agenda for yesterday’s board meeting at the football association’s office at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo but she promised to ask Latapy if it could have been put down for discussion.

Taylor said the TTFA had absolutely no say in their removal of a member, adding “The only thing we have to do is inform them (TTFA) of our decisions.”